A pair of films featuring eminent directors guiding nonprofessional casts are highlighs of the 2013 Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival.

The series, running April 11-28, returns to all five screens of the St. Anthony Main theater in Minneapolis. It opens with English veteran Ken Loach's comedy "The Angel's Share." The film, cast with non-actors, follows a group of Scottish petty criminals thrown together by chance, who plan an ultra low-tech heist. Their target:: a Highland distillery housing an extremely valuable vintage whisky. The 76-year-old Loach, known for social-issues dramas such as "Kes" and "The Wind that Shakes the Barley," won a Special Jury Award for this sprightly change of pace when the film opened in Cannes last year. Britain's Guardian newspaper callet it "funny, warm-hearted [and] deftly plotted." It screens 7:30 p.m. April 11.

The acclaimed directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani ("Padre Padrone") took their cameras inside prison walls to film "Caesar Must Die," a docudrama about Italian convicts staging a production of Shakespeare. The mid-festival highlight screens at 7 p.m. April 20.

Sidebar programs include:

* "More Real?" a special program on documentaries that blur the distingtion between fact and fiction

* 2013 best foreign film Oscar entries

* "Minnesota Made," a new slate of films made in Minnesota or by Minensotans

* World cinema and documentary series, and

* Children's films.

The Festival will screen 200 feature length and short films from some 60 countries, including appearances by prominent international filmmakers and celebrities, after-screening galas, events, parties, and panel discussions.

Tickets to the opening night film and party will go on sale to Film Society members for $40 March 13. Tickets for non-members will cost $50 and be available on or before April 1. For a full schedule and tickets or multi-film passes, visit www.mspfilmsociety.org.